Movie Review: Casper

Casper

Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, Harvey Entertainment Company, USA, 1995.

Based on the comics and cartoons created by Seymour Reit and Joe Oriolo.

Greedy Carrigan Crittenden's (Cathy Moriarty) inherits an old Whipstaff manor from her father. There is a treasure hidden in the manor. She travels there with her lawyer Dibs (Eric Idle). By the way, Cathy Moriarty looks a lot like Faye Dunaway.

Dibs and Carrigan

The manor is the home of Casper the Friendly Ghost (voiced by Malachi Pearson) but also his three misbehaving ghost uncles Stretch (Joe Alaskey), Stinkie (Brad Garrett), Fatso (John Kassir) live there. Carrigan and Dibs flee in terror!

Casper

Father Guido Sarducci (comedian Don Novello) fails in exorcising the ghosts. Also Dan Aykroyd fails. Casper is lonely. He tips Carrigan to call ghost shrink (i.e. paranormal therapist) Dr. James Harvey (Bill Pullman). Dr. Harvey has daughter Kat (Christina Ricci) whom Casper wants to meet. Maybe she would like to be friends? Kat does not believe in ghosts and thinks that her dad is nuts.

Kat

James

James and the Ghostly Trio

The Ghostly Trio tries to scare the Harveys away but Casper becomes Kat's friend. Also James learns to know the three ghosts who are more goofy jesters than scary spectres. However Kat has to throw in a Halloween party for her school class and search for treasure with Casper while Carrigan and Dibs are causing ruckus.

Casper and Kat

The story combines goofy cartoon-style ghost fun with issues of loneliness and coping with death and loss. James is interested in ghosts so that he could contact his dead wife, Kat is lonely because they have to move often and Casper yearns to remember how it was to be a living boy. Christina Ricci shines as young heroine and Bill Pullman as his goofy father. Also the character of Casper is cute. Carrigan and Dibbs on the other hand are characters that the movie could do without.

It is striking that the villain Carrigan is so undercharacterized person. Her dad was a benefactor who bequeathed his properties to various animal protection charities, but he left her greedy daughter only a rotting house. I mean if her father was such a saint, what made Carrigan such a cold person? Maybe her dad neglected her because of his business? Or maybe he did not buy her a pony? Even the Ghostly Trio learns redeeming qualities towards the end of the story, but Carrigan is just plain sneering villain. It is not that the villains in children's movies necessarily need some deep backstories but the Disney-villain style handling of Carrigan has dissonance with the rest of the film's quite sentimental themes.

Not that the film isn't fun and entertaining but the seams are visible. Also the cameos in the beginning are a bit gratuitous. It feels that it would have worked better if it had chosen either the goofy cartoonish adventure approach or the touching and sentimental drama approach. For the positive aspects I have to give "Casper" an above average rating although there were many scenes that were out of place or did not work as they should have.

Rating: Good

Starring: Chauncey Leopardi, Spencer Vrooman, Malachi Pearson, Cathy Moriarty, Eric Idle, Ben Stein, Don Novello , Fred Rogers, Terry Murphy, Bill Pullman, Christina Ricci, Ernestine Mercer, Doug Bruckner, Joe Nipote, Joe Alaskey, Brad Garrett, John Kassir, Garette Ratliff Henson, Jessica Wesson, Wesley Thompson, Michael Dubrow, J.J. Anderson, Jess Harnell, Michael McCarty, Micah Winkelspecht, Mike Simmrin, Amy Brenneman, Devon Sawa, Janette Andrade, Dan Aykroyd, Rodney Dangerfield, Clint Eastwood, Mel Gibson, Elise Main, Tony Stef'Ano

Director: Brad Silberling